The Brooklyn, New York icon Shawn “Jay Z.” Carter celebrates his 51st birthday today. From selling drugs as a teen to being rap’s first billionaire, there is nothing Jay hasn’t accomplished in his career. To celebrate the revolutionary man that is Jay Z, let’s look back at some recent times the rap mogul has been to town. His most recent time visiting the 604 was in October of 2018.

He and wife Beyonce were in town to perform the final stop on their record-shattering tour On the Run II. Vancouver was the only Canadian stop on this illustrious tour. After it was all complete, the two were seen dining and celebrating at Vancouver’s coveted sushi restaurant Miku in the private room.

In 2017 Jay arrived to perform at Rogers Arena for his 4:44 tour on December 11th. The insane stage presence and animatronics followed up with the packed Rogers Arena made for quite the event that night.

Jay has shown love for more than just the lower mainland in his career. Jay Z was the headlining act on Sunday, July 27th, 2008, at the inaugural Pemberton Music festival. His most recent venture involving B.C has nothing to do with music at all! He invested five million dollars into Kelowna based company Pela, who has designed the world’s first compostable phone case. Being one of the biggest names in hip hop Jay Z was accustomed to smoking the finest cannabis worldwide. Like many rappers, he has praised British Columbia’s cannabis market for decades, well before the thought of legalization.

In his 2008 interview with Narduwar, the Human Serviette Jay Z jokes about how Canadian Border Patrol needs to lighten up, alluding to the fact the man wants some good old B.C. bud to bring back south for all of Rocnation to enjoy. Happy 51st birthday, Jay Z, and thank you for making British Columbia apart of your Canadian ventures.